As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warns that the state is fast running out of cash and calls for budget cuts
to cure a $24 billion deficit, his would-be replacements face risky
political decisions in spelling out how they would handle a crisis
unfolding long before they would take office in January 2011.

By then, the state's current fiscal meltdown will have been resolved,
papered over or reduced in scale, or will have morphed into a ghastly
new form.

Whether they're Republicans or Democrats, none of the candidates are providing much in the way of specifics. But, when the specifics are this ugly, I can't really blame them.